‘How does that make any sense? He’s not a street fortune teller, he is the Captain of the Fleur-de-lis.’

“Mother, I am going to go to that table for a moment.”

Christelle looked at Isabelle as she said that.

Lady Isabelle seemed shocked but she nodded her head as she was now used to her daughter’s sudden actions.

Ever since waking up through Isabelle’s prayers last spring, Christelle has done whatever she wanted to do and did not regret her decisions.

She was maybe even acting as she pleased in order to not have any regrets.

Of course, she was not trying to make any important decisions because she was worried about her memories returning in the future, but there were no hesitations when it came to her words and actions.

Christelle called over a guard knight of the Duke’s House of Sarnez as soon as Isabelle gave her permission.

“Please look after my mother.”

“Please don’t worry, young lady Christelle.”

The woman with a sword on her side responded reliably.

Christelle nodded her head and headed toward the table where Modeste Bacary was sitting by himself.

Quite a number of gazes were locked on her before they whispered and disappeared.

“Hello, Captain Bacary.”

“Dame Christelle de Sarnez.”

His young face looked up at her.

His round glasses and silver eyes gently sparkled under the shadows of his robe.

Christelle put his note in her pocket as she spoke in her usual voice.

“You are drinking alone. Are you the type who treats solitude as his snacks when he drinks?”

“I do tend to be that way.”

The young man answered without any hesitation.

She had heard that this guy was only twenty years old, so the fact that he already enjoyed solo drinking made her think that this little kid in front of her was quite entertaining.

Christelle motioned with her eyes to the seat across from Bacary. He understood what she meant and nodded her head.

A combination that nobody could have ever expected was instantly formed.

The sharp errand boy brought over another glass.

“To my knowledge, you went up to Prince Jesse during the masquerade to make a prophecy. You said that you saw the shadows of death. There was also something about the stench of a terrible plot and about a person’s pain. I heard about it as well. That is the reason my friends and I investigated the ballroom.”

Christelle threw it straight at him. The seer lowered his head.

His night-colored hair weakly fell forward.

“……I heard that was the case as well.”

The voice of the boy who was in between a child and a youth in age sounded extremely somber.

Bacary reached out and grabbed the champagne that Christelle had sent over.

– Tap

Christelle snatched the bottle from him and filled his empty cup.

The captain looked at her in shock.

“It is bad luck if you fill it yourself. What do you mean by that? Do you usually lose your memories when you make a prophecy?”

“……Absolutely not. That day was the only exception.”

Bacary stared at the champagne before chugging the whole thing.

She had not expected him to oneshot the whole thing as this was not soju.

Christelle calmly observed him.

“When I saw you at the masquerade, you were already sleeping. I was told that you had entered mana interphase.”

The image of his mask being off as he was nursed on the couch was still vivid on her mind.

However, it had been chaotic because of the sudden opening of dungeons in the Blanquer Duchy.

Everybody had been busy evacuating to the plaza and she had not been able to talk to Bacary’s family members that day.

The investigation ruled that Marquis François Duhem and Christelle’s father, Duke Simon de Sarnez had not done anything wrong.

Of course, the two of them had not even known that they were the subjects of suspicion.

The prophecy had been quite abstract and that trash, Robert Blanquer, claimed that he did not make contact with anybody.

“Yes, Dame Sarnez. I apparently used a significant amount of mana that made it so that I had to go into interphase as soon as I made the proclamation. The servants of my household have also confirmed that my nose bled quite a bit. As a result, what you said must be the truth. However……”

“You are saying that you yourself have forgotten?”

“That is correct, Dame Sarnez.”

His voice was very quiet as he answered. He clearly wanted to deny the truth.

“It is something that I cannot understand at all. Since I was named Captain of the Fleur-de-lis this year…… I have never made such an error.”

‘Error?’ It was an odd choice of word. The Holy Knight scowled and poured some more alcohol.

Bacary chugged the champagne as if he had been waiting for her to pour.

The highest-grade brie and raw oysters that came out were getting cold.

‘He’s just drinking on an empty stomach. Must be nice to be young.’

“As her Majesty’s magic tool, I cannot have such a defect. I……”

“You’re completely drunk.”

Christelle instantly cut him off.

She did not want to hear him talk about how he has a defect or made an error. He was not some sort of artificial intelligence.

She got up without any hesitation. The man’s blurry gaze followed her movement.

“Either way, you are saying you don’t know the reason. Then I will be on my way now, Captain Bacary. My mother is waiting for me.”

“……”

“Also, a person is not a tool. It looks like you are about to black out, but…… I am still telling you this before I go because I feel like I will regret it if I don’t.”

“You are saying the same thing as the prince.”

“Prince Jesse?”

Christelle asked back in a loud voice.

The Prince Jesse she knew would definitely say something like that.

She was just amused that there was an exchange between this twenty year old solo drinker and that handsome man who only drinks herb tea.

She was lost in thought for a bit before smiling and leaving these last words.

“Next time, don’t drink on your own. Instead, visit Juliette Palace if you are struggling. Nobody can go there right now but the restriction will be removed soon. At least I believe it will be.”

“What do you……”

“I think it’ll be about three months for him to go over.”

Christelle mumbled before starting to walk.

She had not gained any info because the seer had lost his memories, but, thinking about it in reverse, learning about the fact that he forgot the events of that night was actually a great gain.

If he received such a shock that he forgot everything, the revelation itself was highly likely to be important information.

‘I should let his highness know as well.’ She thought to herself.

Since Gerrit managed to earn that damn Imperial Crown Prince bastard’s trust thanks to his young age and innocence, he should be able to deliver a countless number of letters for her.

*

“Yes sir. I am currently out in the Juliette Palace garden.

This is our third day for tea time underneath the beautiful sunshine of Fall, with our Juliette Palace family and our special guest, Gerrit.

Mr. Gerrit Geens, you were once again the only outsider to receive permission to enter Juliette Palace. Could you share how you are feeling about that?”

“Hmm.”

I spooned up some vacherin and placed it in front of the child’s mouth like a microphone.

Gerrit smiled with an embarrassed look on his face before opening his mouth to eat the ice cream.

“You must be feeling good.” I slyly added on before taking a big bite myself.

The vacherin with chestnut paste and puree was stickier and sweeter than usual.

The way the refreshing cream gently melted on top of my tongue instantly made me feel better.

I petted the water deer, Chestnut, who came with Gerrit to play, and then smiled as I watched the two kids run off to a side of the field.

Our nice Ganael went with them as guardian.

Benjamin was seated at the next table writing his manuscript while the divine beasts were all gathered together taking a nap.

The gardener carefully walked to not step on the little troublemakers.

“I should study again.”

I firmed my resolve and looked at the table.

The area around me was full of scratch paper, books, letters, my notebook and quill pen.

The Empire-wide harvest festival is set to happen next month. This was a grand celebration that lasted not just a few days but the whole month of November.

The food in the Imperial Palace is generally made with fresh seasonal ingredients, but the feeling that the festival was arriving could even be felt in this cold remote palace.

There were luxurious decorations everywhere and excited staff could be seen hurriedly running around.

It was clear that there would be many events looking for Crown prince Cédric and Christelle. It was especially important for the former to maintain his condition.

I know that he has a busy schedule in December as well, so I needed to at least figure out what was going on before then.

∙ The Ark’s warning.

– Don’t know what will happen if the divine items gather together: ‘I can pass on this because I have an idea about this now.’

– The danger that the Almighty God prepared for me: ?

I tapped on that second line with my quill pen.

I then drew an arrow and extended it to the side.

– The danger that the Almighty God prepared for me: ? → The chance that Bacary foresaw it.

This was the important part.

Modeste Bacary had made an extremely scary prophecy at the masquerade and I believed that he saw something that did not happen in the original novel.

It was because he said that the way he saw that vision was different from how he had received his revelations until now.

I couldn’t be certain because I had no other clues other than that, but……

I peeked at the letters next to the notebook.

‘Hello your highness, it’s me! Did you enjoy your meal? I am writing once again with the belief that Gerrit will manage to deliver my letter to you as before. I wanted to let you know that I met Captain Bacary of the Fleur-de-lis at the tavern two days ago. But……’

The handwriting that perfectly reflected Christelle was running around on top of the paper like a little horse.

The information she shared was quite shocking.

“He has no memories.”

I mumbled to myself.

He started bleeding after seeing the future and his body and mind took such shocks that he had to go into mana interphase as soon as he finished his prophecy but he can’t even recall the event after regaining consciousness?

‘Did he really see something that did not happen in the original novel?

In that case, the author personally intervened with Bacary’s mind or……

The author used some means to erase the memories of this character.’ It was a bit scary.

I sipped on the plum blossom tea as I calmly organized my thoughts.

– The danger that the Almighty God prepared for me: ? → The chance that Bacary foresaw it → Based on the fact that he lost his memories, highly likely that it was not something in the original novel → I am the only existence here that is not from the original

‘……Are you really calling this organized, Jung Yeseo?

Nothing stands out because you just wrote down whatever came to mind.’

I clicked my tongue and scratched out the things in the notebook. ‘It might be better to draw it out.’

　　　Almighty God

　　　↓

(Danger) ↓ ← Bacary got a peek

　　　↓

　　　Me

“That’s much better.”

I nodded my head.

I had considered that Bacary had made a prophecy about Eva because that bastard, Robert Blanquer, claimed that he was trying to harm his sister.

But in that case, I saw no reason for him to lose his memories.

Eva was important to me but she was not an important figure in the original QNW.

It was a name I had never heard Eunseo mention.

“If it is not in the original, it should not be related to the war. It was called a scheme…… A conspiracy related to me.”

The faces of Marquis Duhem and Duke Sarnez flashed in my mind. I quickly shook my head.

‘It’s not either of them. I hope it is not either of them. It is probably not.’

“Move on for now.”

I quickly turned the page.

I was feeling iffy about it but I had no way to look more into it for now.

It was this next topic that I needed to contemplate right now.

∙ Sequelae from activating the Paten of Wishes: Ether blocked

– When will it get better?

– Can I even get better?

I had come up with some theories about this as well while eating well and sleeping the last few days.

First, the Paten should not be a one-time use item, so I was certain that it was still inside my body.

The paten used such a strong power that others thought I was going into ether overload before becoming completely silent.

In that case, there was only one conclusion I could deduce.

“Cool time.

That has to be it.” I solemnly mumbled.

The paten was closer to an ‘item’ than a ‘skill,’ but it was easy to understand the situation if I considered it as a skill.

QNW was, in the end, a novel written by a Korean author in the 21st century.

It would have been hard not to have received some inspiration from the systems seen in games.

– When will it get better?: When the paten’s cool time is over.

– Can I even get better?

After writing about the cool time, I glared at the bottom line and brought the teacup up to my mouth.

My body was fine and the paten should be fine as well, so I should be able to get better some da……

“Blegh, why is this so bitter?”

I scowled and looked at the teacup.

I saw that this was not my plum blossom tea but the sun halo weed medicinal tea that Gerrit had been drinking. I must have accidentally picked up the child’s cup.

It had no effect when I drank it two days ago, but the little kid did not give up and shared his medicine with me yesterday as well.

I felt less repulsed because I had read Sir Michel’s letter about the sun halo weed.

‘He seems to have purposely left this where I can reach it……

Should I just pretend that I am drinking some red ginger and gulp it down?’

“Ugh, this is even more bitter than red ginseng. Huh?”

It was at that moment. I blinked, wondering if I was seeing things.

– Shaaaaaaaaaaaa……

Small golden pebbles were rising up from my fingertips.

My jaw dropped at this unbelievable development. ‘All of a sudden? The cool time is over?’

“No, wait.”

I urgently inspected the empty teacup.

‘Is it this thing? Is it because of the sun halo weed medicinal tea?’

– Tang!

– Clang!

I flinched and looked behind me. Benjamin raised my head in shock as well.

A balcony door in Romero Palace was broken and fluttering like a rag.

The orange eyes that resembled the sun were staring at me with a scary gaze.

I could see David pounding his chest behind this guy when I heard the low voice that dug into the ground.

“……Finally.”

‘Wow, this ether pig is so sensitive to ether!’

—
Translator’s Comments

Ether pig coming for his fooood!

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